Social Progress - Eu Policies

To what extend in your view is the Social Progress Index a major advance for measurement of social performance? In what ways will it change our understanding of the comparative performance of countries and what policy implications may it generate?

In order to understand the importance of Social Progress Index as a major advance, first it is important to understand Gross Domestic Product, how it is measure and the important limitations it has.

National progress nowadays is normally measured by GDP (Gross Domestic Product), but this measurement is only the sum of the total of the value of all goods and services produced within a defined geographical area (P.O. Sullivan, 2015). Therefore, this kind of dimension is only considering aggregate production that might also consider those who won’t aggregate any value to the nation, such as arms production for example.

There is a controversy by assuming that a high GDP will imply directly a high social progress, since GDP is only considering production that in some way leads to capital, it is not fully true that the well-being of people will be also increased by an increase in GDP, but is not completely false either.

It is true that GDP might help to measure social performance, but it has enormous limitations by classifying the total needs to an increase in social progress. For example, GDP cannot measure the environmental degradation of a nation produced by the increase of production plants, yes, this will increase GDP for sure, but will decrease the well-being of the nation at the same time and also might be directly linked to a decrease in health of the population.

Health of the population is an important task that a government has to do in order to increase the wellbeing of the nation, it is essential to offer free health care for every citizen in the country to prevent illnesses or to cure sicknesses by providing good equipment, personal or installations in order to achieve this task properly.

Also, peace and security inside a nation is not considered in the GDP. A country might be increasing their investment in production plants, yes, this will increase the level of GDP that the country has, like México. México increase its GDP by almost 1% at 2014 and almost 3% from 2013-2014 (Trading Economics). This should mean that México´s inhabitant’s well-being would be better, but is not, while GDP might be increasing, more capital is produced in the country. But money is not the solution to everything, people care more about their security rather than having more things. As it is known, México is suffering security problems by drug cartels and it is not possible to live without worries of being kidnaped, killed or being shot by a person in the streets.

Opportunities for continuing studies are vital for promoting a better development of a country, it is also directly linked to promoting peace and security in some countries, for example, drug cartels are recruiting young people offering a life they won’t be able to have in the circumstances they live. This is why the educational level of population is needed in order to rise the general wellbeing of the population.

Other important limitations of GDP are the free goods available that a nation has and the amount of leisure time available of the inhabitants. For example, some countries might provide educational level for free while the government will provide care of the expenses, this will also motivates students to continue their studies and will give opportunities to more. Leisure time is important in order to increase the happiness of the people which is associated to the increase in well-being, holidays, working hours, or any time available for the people is important for them to spend with their families or for doing any pleasures they want.